Jo Evans talks Baylor beatdown and more

Notes from Jo Evans interview

* The team has opened up conference play pretty well and has had confidence in doing so. Opening up conference play against a top team like Missouri, after just playing in Hawaii, she was a little worried that the team would come out flat, but the team played well and did a good job of putting everything together.

* She likes the leadership the team has and it’s making it easy for the team to gel together. She told the team last night after beating Baylor that they were playing well, but to stay focused because there are still 20 conference games in front of them and it’s a long season. Sometimes games will be a grind, and she thinks that the team did a good job of grinding in the Missouri series this past weekend.

* Kelsea Orsak was terrific out of the nine-hole against Baylor. She did a good job of driving the ball and that was shown by her home run against Missouri and her two doubles against Baylor. Amber Garza is swinging the bat well after getting off to a slow start at the beginning of the season. Cassie Tysarczyk is also driving the ball well. Anytime Mel Dumezich is in the circle she will give the team a chance to win and she did a great job against Baylor.

* It’s great when Orsak gets on base and can be huge for the team because it allows the lineup to roll over to the top seamlessly. Being able to have the team’s best hitter in Natalie Villarreal hit with someone on base can do wonders for the offensive production of the team.

* Garza is finally starting to get comfortable this season and you can see that in her stats. She’s someone who needs to take a thousand cuts a week because that’s just how she is. Her injuries set her back and she began to doubt herself, but now she is back on the right foot and has herself headed in the right direction. At the end of the season last year, she hit grand slams in back-to-back postseason games and is someone who can step up for the team, so it’s nice to see her feeling good once again.

* Dumezich was locked in from the first pitch last night in the win against Baylor. Not only is she very athletic, but she is also mentally tough which helps her a lot. The team relies on her and she likes the pressure of being in the limelight game in and game out.

* She thinks the team did a great job of adjusting to the three game conference series that started this year. They started Dumezich the first night and she got the win for herself with the games only runs off of a two-run blast in the first inning. She had a tough time in the second game, but freshman Lauren Ainsley was terrific in relief to give A&M a shot at winning. Dumezich came back out on Sunday for the final game and was lights out in the victory. She doesn’t want to throw Dumezich three games in a row, but she knows she is capable of doing so if needed.

* In a three game series a team will need more relief pitching than it would in a two game series, so it was good to see Ainsley come out and pitch well on Saturday. She had a really good start in Hawaii and it was good to see her carry that over into the Missouri series. If she wasn’t able to wear down on the Missouri batters on Saturday, the team might not have been able to get the win on Sunday.

* Missouri pitcher Chelsea Thomas had a no hitter into the eighth inning of Saturday’s game until Tysarczyk hit a double that ended being the winning run on a Jenna Stark double into the gap in right-center field. She had decided to give Stark some at-bats because designated player Sydney Shannon was struggling and it ended up paying off for her in only her sixth at-bat of the year. The hit was huge and sent a lesson to the younger players on the team that says to always work hard because you never know when it will be your time to shine.

* Oklahoma State is a better ball club than their record shows and the team knows they will have to play well in Stillwater this weekend in order to get the series victory. She doesn’t want the team to get ahead of themselves in any way. When you’re trying to win a championship, the most important games are not the ones against the teams ahead of you, but the ones against the teams behind you because you’re supposed to win those games.